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This Week in Wrestling 2017 week 29

It’s Saturday so time for the latest instalment of ’This Week in Wrestling’. Today, in part 29, Craig and Earl preview tomorrow’s Battleground while Brian shares all the best viral content he’s stumbled upon this week.

It will be main-evented by a Punjabi Prison match pitting reigning WWE Champion Jinder Mahal against Randy Orton. Elsewhere, The Usos put their tag titles on the line against New Day, John Cena takes on Rusev in a flag match, AJ Styles defends his US title against Kevin Owens and more. Today Craig and Earl preview and predict the show, saving tomorrow for a piece on Kurt Angle’s big reveal.

Pre-show Tye Dillinger vs Aiden English

Craig: This match that sadly screams pre-show, Tye Dillinger locks horns with Aiden English. Both guys could and should be doing better than being lumbered with this. Dillinger is a top worker and is charismatic to boot while English brings something distinctly unique to the party. Yet here we are, this is likely to be viewed by very few and have an impact on even fewer.

Winner: Dillinger.

Earl: I cannot say that I care. Dillinger gets the “feel good” win.

Winner: Tye Dillinger

Sami Zayn vs. Mike Kanellis

Craig: Mike Kanellis and Sami Zayn is another bout recently added to the card and does about as much for me as the match which features on the pre-show. A feud based on interrupting backstage segments isn’t going to enthuse many but could, in the end, be a half decent bout. Who wins? Zayn, right? 50:50 booking and that.

Winner: Zayn.

Earl: I love Mike Kanellis’ theme. That’s first and foremost. But onto this match. I like to think Sami would get his win back, but not yet. If we want to establish the Kanellis duo as a threat on the horizon, it would be good to give them a win on the big stage. Let’s go with Maria coming up with a crafty win for her man.

Winner: Mike Kanellis

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Baron Corbin

Craig: I am a big fan of Nakamura, although hate the rock star gimmick thing, and not at all into Baron Corbin so that isn’t a great start. Add in the fact I really don’t know if these guys will have any sort of chemistry, then I’m basically out for this one. Who will win? Nakamura but not sure this really beenefits anyone…

Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura.

Earl: I am…just not sure if these two will have good chemistry together. Something about it on paper isn’t too exciting to me. I know there is probably a set of people who could see Baron Corbin, but I don’t see it here. WWE has a history of booking MITB briefcase winners to look weak on their path to the championship. I think history begins to repeat itself with this one.

Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura

John Cena vs. Rusev (Flag match)

Craig: I like Rusev and had hoped that he had moved on from a progamme with John Cena for him to return and inexplicably challenge John Cena *sigh*. I’m picking Rus…nah, we all know that John Cena is winning this one.

Winner: John Cena

Earl: The return of the almighty Cena. You think I’m going to go against Cena…for RUSEV of all people? Nah. No sir.
Winner: John Cena

AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens (United States Championship)

Craig: I cannot wait for this. Love both these guys and if they are given 15-20 minutes, this will be a cracker of a match. There’s no doubt that the US title has become one of the most important belts on in the WWE at the moment, helped enormously by two main-eventers like Styles and Owens clashing over it. AJ will go over here and move onto a programme with someone new (Chad Gable?) while Owens will also seek pastures new.

Winner: AJ Styles

Earl: Match of the night if we get the time for it. I think KO is bound to move to someone else, maybe Orton, and I don’t think he does it as US Champion. AJ is beloved at this point and keeping a title on him is good for us. I actually think the US title is the #1 title on SD as long as AJ has it.

Craig: ‘Let’s just through them all in one match’ booking here. It’s the simple way to do it and quite lazy. It’ll likely produce a series of quick eliminations leading to a 1 vs. 1 match which will leave everyone wonder why they didn’t just book said 1 vs. 1 match anyway. Wonder if it’ll be Charlotte vs Becky left over… Either way, think it’ll be Charlotte that’ll reign supreme here.

Winner: Charlotte.

Earl: Multi-woman match? Hmmm. Can’t say I am too interested in it. Since the winner doesn’t really do anything for me, this will be “free pick” of the night. I hope Nattie wins and gets a shot at Summerslam.

Winner: Natalya

The Usos vs. The New Day (Tag Team Championships)

Craig: This screams New Day win, huh? While I prefer New Day to the Usos personally, I do recognise that New Day doesn’t need the titles. They are over huge and it would only hurt The Usos should they drop the titles here. But, sadly, I can’t look beyond that happening.

Winner: New Day

Earl: Hmm. This is can be interesting. There’s a part of me that thinks The New Day should win this match. They still get a great crowd response and have been gaining momentum on the TV. I just think The Usos might still have a little more to give. I could (and probably will) be wrong on this, but I am going with Usos going into Summerslam as champs.

Winner: The Usos

Jinder Mahal vs Randy Orton (Punjabi Prison, WWE Championship)

Craig: God, can this feud be over already? This match will be abysmal but will have the silver lining of it being the end of this programme between the two.

Winner: Jinder Mahal.

Earl: I’m sorry – I just don’t want to see this match for the third time. I’m typically the “glass half full” guy, but the last two matchups did not do anything for me. I have no reason to believe this stipulation will truly help. Some guys just don’t have good chemistry together. This is that case. Add on the Jinder reign that has yet to resonate with me and I don’t see a “must see” match. But if I must make a call, I go with Jinder going 3-0 on Randall.

Winner: Jinder Mahal

Overall Thoughts

Craig: This just yells b, or even, c-show to be honest. I’ll look up the results the morning after and watch anything that appeals as a result. But that’s it.

Earl: As my friend told me, this cards looks like a really good episode of Smackdown Live. I have to agree with him. This is another card that doesn’t “wow” me on the surface. Whenever this is the case, I keep my expectations low and hope for a good show. If I am being brutally honest, we need a shake up and I am hoping this PPV does that going into Summerslam.